Echoing Raindrops
by NinjaFoxSword
Summary: Born with murky green eyes, young Fernkit is believed to visually impaired. She makes it her goal to prove herself to be taken seriously, but is easily overshadowed by her two perfect sisters. Meanwhile, her clanmates are planning a rebellion, and she has a choice. Either fight for what she believes or prove her loyalty to her clan.
1. Allegiances

**Welcome to NiagaraClan, a special group of cats who've adapted to living and hunting near water, resulting in all pure NiagaraClan cats having webbed paws and 80% having small fins on their tail. Nonetheless, they are still felines. When a cat becomes a warrior, they get a number on a scale of 1-10, based on their looks. The only way to be a 10 is to have a pretty quirk or mutation, or just be insanely pretty. Ranks 8, 9, and 10 hold the most authority, while ranks 5 and below are treated almost like lower class citizens. In certain cases, cats may have rare eye colors such as purple or gray, which is a sign sent from Aurora that they are chosen to be a healer or the First.**

 **First -**

Fallenstar the First 10 - A snow white she-cat with faint gray dapples and beautiful, clear green eyes

 **Second -**

Swanpool the Second 6 - Broad-shouldered white she-cat with scattered ticked tabby marks and reddish-amber eyes

 **Ranker -**

Lilaccloud - Ranker 10 - A lilac-colored tom with a white muzzle, a white left front paw, and warm amber eyes

 **\- Healers -**

Lilyfrost - Starknower 9 - Dark purple-eyed she-cat with a pale yellow pelt and tabby stripes

Sundapple - Cometseer 10 - A tom with golden-orange long fur and a lighter belly, light brown eyes

Echorain - Moonbringer 9 - A light gray she-cat with faint tabby marks and pretty wide, pale blue eyes

 **\- Warriors -**

Sparrowmask - Sleekhunter 7 - Tall, light brown-tinged white tom with a brown mask and tail tip

Morningleaf - Sleekhunter 8 - Tan-colored she-cat with vibrant green eyes and white ears

Shimmerbrook - Sleekhunter 10 - Smooth-pelted tom with dark brown tabby-striped fur and blue eyes

Leopardsnow - Sleekhunter 7 - A light gray she-cat with darker dapples like a snow leopard, bright yellow eyes

Apprentice: Honeypaw - A light cream tom with a long tail and golden honey eyes

Sweetmistle - Sleekhunter 6 - A brown tabby she-cat with a white chest, belly, arms, muzzle, and splotches, holly green eyes

Briarflame - Jewelfinder 6 - Amber-eyed she-cat with a red-brown pelt and darker paws

Tansypath - Jewelfinder 7 - A calico she-cat with bright, taupe brown eyes

Heathersnow - Jewelfinder 10 - A creamy brown tom with soft white paws and dark blue eyes

Mintspot - Jewelfinder 6 - A black she-cat with mint green eyes

Bluemoon - Nightlooker 7 - A light blue-eyed she-cat with a reddish pelt

Apprentice: Poppypaw - A bright amber-eyed tom with black fur and white front paws

Goldenmaple - Nightlooker 9 - A golden tabby she-cat with light hazel eyes and a pink nose

Apprentice: Duskpaw - A lithe tom with long fur, a black pelt, dark gray legs, and dark orange eyes

Lightningdapple - Nightlooker 9 - A tom with yellow eyes and a soft gray pelt

Palewind - Nightlooker 10 - A pale yellow she-cat with a long tail and deep blue eyes

 **\- Low Ranks -**

Acornpetal 3 - A she-cat with dark eyes and a brown tabby pelt, weird shapes on her pelt

Mousefoot 4 - A brown-pelted she-cat with ugly dark shapes on her pelt, black paws, and green eyes

Shellfrost 3 - An old, visually impaired tom with pale blue eyes and a black pelt

Littlefly 4 - Speckled golden small tom with a limp front paw and brown eyes

 **\- Elders -**

Silverstone 10 - A silver tabby tom with handsome hazel eyes and a white tail

Deerblossom 9 - A soft, brown-pelted she-cat with lemon yellow eyes, white spots on her fur

Creekwhisper 10 - A jet black she-cat with gentle hazel eyes, mottled black paws, and a heart-shaped pink nose

Darkpetal 6 - A black she-cat with white patches on her pelt, dark blue eyes

Amberfrost 8 - A tom with shiny amber eyes and a dappled ginger and black pelt

 **\- Queens -**

Thunderbranch - Nightlooker 7 - Dark gray she-cat with a fluffy white chest and belly, and golden brown eyes

Kits: Riverkit, Stormkit (Riverkit - Tortoiseshell gray and orange she-cat, orange eyes, Stormkit - Sleek black tom with dark green eyes, white chest fluff)

Doveshine - Herbfinder 9 - Long-furred light gray she-cat with a white muzzle and light crystal blue eyes


	2. Prologue

Lilyfrost Starfinder sat beside Doveshine and started massaging her stomach gently, her swirling purple eyes darkening with worry.

Echorain Moonbringer grabbed a batch of raspberry leaves she'd collected earlier and put them in her mouth, chewing as fast as she could. When she was done, she fed the leaves to Doveshine slowly to make sure the kitting she-cat wouldn't choke.

After she had chewed, her shoulders relaxed a bit until a contraction ran threw her body. Sundapple Cometspotter put a stick in her mouth as she bit hard on it.

Not long after, the gray medicine cat could see a tiny head peeking out. "I can see a kit! Keep pushing!" She whispered.

A white tom ran into the nursery and gasped when he saw the panting queen. "Doveshine!" He meowed frantically and ran to her side to start licking her cheek.

The mate, Echorain thought dryly, and turned her focus back to the kitting queen.

After one big push from the kitting queen, finally a kit dropped out. Echorain gently ripped the sack to let the kit breathe and moved the small bundle to her mother's side, although she barely noticed her as another kit started to appear.

This time, Sundapple nipped at the sack and placed it beside it's older sibling.

"Sparrowmask," Doveshine croaked, noticing her large mate licking her cheek for the first time.

"Don't talk." He said, looking at her pale eyes. She stared back at his jade green ones, painfully. "Focus on the kits."

She nodded and continued to push. "I see another one!" With one final push, her last kit came, and she sighed.

"Is it over?"

"Yes, my love, it is." Sparrowmask licked her ear and gazed down at his mate and kits, eyes full of love.

"Three she-cats," Echorain declared. "All of them alive. The second one is a little weak, but with proper care, she'll become just as strong as her sisters in no time."

Doveshine purred, although clearly she was still exhausted. "My firstborn… She looks beautiful… I think… Bluebellkit. You should name the youngest one… Dear." Bluebellkit was a russian blue she-cat by the looks of it. Doveshine started stroking her small pelt.

"Look at her paws," He meowed delightedly, noticing the lastborn's silver pebble-like paws. "Pebblekit. And the middle kit?"

Doveshine turned her head down to look at her middle kit, a pale gray one with silver blurs. "I want… To wait until I name her." Sparrowmask nodded, asking Lilyfrost for help to carry his mate over to the nursery.

"You did good today, Sundapple Cometspotter." Echorain muttered, casting a glance at the sun-pelted tom, who smiled back shyly at her.

"I didn't do anything." He admitted. "You did your job well. Although, I'm sure Doveshine would've appreciated it if you started acknowledging her as your littermate again."

Echorain snorted. "And hedgehog's fly."

Lilyfrost, came back and listened to their conversation, pleased. The two had never really gotten along until recently, and she was proud that they were finally getting over their differences. They might even become friends. She thought with a yawn as she padded over to her nest.

If she had just kept her eyes open for five more heartbeats, she might've noticed the pair twining their tails together.


	3. Chapter 1: Ferns and Pebbles

"Pebblekit!" A soft voice called out. "Pebblekittttttt!"

Fernkit's curled up tail twitched in irritation as she felt the lump beside her move.

"I'm sleeping." And then the lump (who she remembered was her sister Pebblekit) rolled around so she was facing another the voice who spoke to her.

"Fernkit's still sleeping. Let's scare her together!" The voice whispered excitedly. Fernkit snorted silently. _I'm not asleep! Whoever that kit trying to prank me is… I'm going to get you._

Pebblekit squealed as she tumbled out of her nest, clearly thrilled about the idea of pranking her seconds-older sister.

Fernkit invertedly shuddered as she felt the hot, milky breath of two kits on her face. She waited for the two kits to step back and crouch down, and then she would jump.

"Rawr! I'm a badger!" Fernkit leapt up to her feet suddenly, hissing at the two terror-stricken cats, her pale green eyes turning into slits. She couldn't see herself, but she hoped that her pelt was bristling and her expression was scary.

Pebblekit shrieked and hid behind the older kit, who turned out to be Riverkit, her white pelt shaking.

Riverkit wasn't from their litter. She, along with her brother Stormkit, were the two 5 moon old kits of Thunderbranch, the graceful black she-cat who snapped at the kits if they made too much noise.

"Mommy!" The young white kitten wailed. Doveshine, woken up by all the commotion, blinked her tired blue eyes and gave her kit a small smile.

"Good morning, my dear." She purred and padded over to her youngest kit to give her a loving squeeze. Then she strolled over to Fernkit and licked the top of her head. Fernkit cooed at the comforting gesture.

"Mommy," Pebblekit meowed, no longer scared and now wearing a look of light awe. "Fernkit was pretending to be a badger and she roared. Badgers don't _roar_ , do they? Fernkit's a mousebrain."

Doveshine's eyes lit with tired confusion which quickly turned into adoration for her kit. "Dear, don't say that about your sister. She is a beautiful little kit, and so are you and your other sister."

Pebblekit just huffed.

"Um… Why isn't Bluebellkit moving?" Riverkit asked nervously, pointing a tortoiseshell paw at Fernkit's motionless blue sister.

The queen sighed, turning her gaze onto her eldest kit. "She… She's so void of energy… I don't know why. She almost never gets out of her nest to play."

Fernkit and Pebblekit shared a glance. They didn't want to say it out loud in fear of how Doveshine would take it, but almost everyone thought that Bluebellkit was going to die in the next half-moon. Originally, Fernkit had been the weak one, but after they had reached a half-moon old, Bluebellkit had stopped drinking as much milk as she used to, she slept way too much during the day, and when she did play on the rare occasions, she was never really into the games.

Bluebellkit _was_ a beauty. With her soft blue fur and her 'silver-dipped' ears(Doveshine liked to boast that Aurora themselves had shone starlight on her ears), and her petite paws, Fernkit thought that if she lived to be a warrior, she could probably be a 9 or 10.

Meanwhile, Pebblekit wasn't considered beautiful, but she was definitely cute. With her short white fur and light silver paws, she always sprung around with joyous glee and a youthful smile that matched her vibrant emerald eyes.

Fernkit was certainly jealous of her two sisters. She didn't think _she_ had any special qualities. She had a boring gray pelt and murky green eyes. Not to mention those ugly gray patches on her fur. How could she ever compare?

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt a larger black tom prodding her side, giving her a curious green-eyed stare. "Whatcha thinking about, Fern?"

Fernkit wrinkled her nose at the nickname. "When I become a warrior, I can't have a nickname! Cats will laugh!"

Stormkit blinked at her. "I don't understand you."

Fernkit stared at him with pale green eyes, questioning herself why she had made friends with Stormkit in the first place.

Suddenly, Riverkit bounded over, her orange eyes glittering. "Honestly, you're really weird Fernkit. I think you should loosen up a little." She let out a giggle as she looked at the younger kit.

Fernkit bristled and looked away. Now she remembered why she was friends with Stormkit. Because she couldn't stand being around Riverkit for more than a few heartbeats!

"And I think you should stop making fun of me!" She meowed, irritated, and walked away to her nest and curl away.

"What's wrong?" Pebblekit squeaked, her face popping up from behind the long bird feathers scattered and piled up on their nest.

"Riverkit is such a big meanie! Why are you even friends with her? Stormkit is nicer." She huffed immaturely and turn around.

"Well, that's okay, you don't have to be friends with everyone," Her sister said cheerfully. "Doveshine told me to tell you that we're cleaning up our nest." A bundle of gray and black feathers were shoved under Fernkit's nose, causing her to sneeze and throw them back at Pebblekit.

Fernkit got onto her feet, dusted her hind legs, and gave Pebblekit a grateful smile. Everytime she was feeling down, her sister would always be there to keep her mind off things and remind her that she was there for her.

She was glad that Pebblekit was with her, and she believed they would always be together, until the end.


	4. Chapter 2: Out of the Nursery

**A/N**

 **Thank you all for the reviews! By the way, Bluebellkit was never going to die, but I wanted to add more suspense to the story.**

"Aaah!"

"Stormkit, get off of me!"

"What are you talking about, mousebrain? You're the one who jumped on me just now!"

"Only because you were crushing me in my sleep!"

"Shut _up_! You're going to wake up-"

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING, WHISPERING UP SO LATE? YOU SHOULD BE SLEEPING!" Thunderbranch's voice boomed throughout the nursery. Stormkit and Riverkit, previously wrestling in their nest, whimpered and pressed their black and tortoiseshell pelts together fearfully.

Fernkit, Pebblekit, Bluebellkit, and Doveshine were all woken up by the black queen's yelling.

Fernkit turned her body around and tried to fall asleep again, ignoring what was going on.

Pebblekit brushed her ears and stood up dizzily, her vision still hazy.

Bluebellkit mumbled something, her tone laced with sleepiness as she cursed her denmates for being so loud.

Doveshine patted her three kits pelts, trying to soothe them back into sleep.

"Stormkit woke me up because he was sleeping on me…" Riverkit mumbled, avoiding looking at her bristling mother. Looking back on her actions, she was now beginning to regret making a big fuss out of it.

"I didn't mean to…" Stormkit meowed feebly. He may not have thought it was his fault and blamed it on his sister for being dramatic, but he didn't want to get in more trouble with his mother.

Thunderbranch sighed and gave them a warning look. "Don't do that again." She slumped back down in her feather filled nest and closed her golden brown eyes, trying to fall back into unconsciousness. Her kits followed her and snuggled up next to her bigger body, forgetting their previous fight.

Doveshine quietly nuzzled her three daughters.

"Pebblekit, if you can't sleep, I'll let you stay up, but don't disturb anyone and try to be quiet." She mewed drowsily and blinked twice before returning to sleep.

Pebblekit let out what sounded like a restraint giggle.

Fernkit knew her sister well enough to know she wasn't going to be quiet for very long.

Turning around and almost falling out of her nest, she spotted Pebblekit with her tail waving in the air, bouncing out of the nursery excitedly.

Common sense told her to stay in her nest and fall asleep. She shouldn't go after her white-pelted sister and risk getting in trouble with her, something Pebblekit was awfully good at.

Her consciousness told her to follow after Pebblekit. It was unlikely anyone was going to catch two small kits if they _tiptoed quietly_ around the camp, right? Besides, Fernkit didn't want to miss out on any fun or adventure her sister might be having.

Fernkit sighed, shifting her paws into a more comfortable position. She knew that it was no use trying to sleep, now that she had already been woken up.

Bluebellkit had her paws tucked up nicely beside her mother's body, the smaller pressed tightly against her. The blue kit had her tiny legs curled up into her chest, making her look like a wrapped up ball of blue moss, except for her pink nose that poked out of the bundle of fur. Her thin tail tip was beginning to sprout two fins and a web in between. Pebblekit's had started growing about a quarter-moon ago. Fernkit didn't have her fins yet, but Doveshine told her a kit's fins only stopped growing when they reach 5 moons.

Her mother, on the other paw, was curled into a semi-ball around what should be two kits. Doveshine's left paw was wrapped protectively around the edge of the nest as if to make sure her litter wouldn't fall off.

Both were obviously sleeping peacefully.

Fernkit smiled cheekily to herself at the thought of seeing her clan's camp for the first time as she got onto the edge of her paws and trod around the feathery nests to catch up to Pebblekit.

The first thing she immediately noticed was the delightful, cool smell of crisp leaf-fall leaves that drifted across the camp subtly. Her father, Sparrowmask, on his first visit to the nursery, had brought them a strangely shaped leaf to play with. Fernkit remembered loving the smell of it so much, she had slipped it under her nest to keep it for herself to sniff. She hadn't realized the whole camp was full of them!

The small gray kit turned her head to both sides, trying to find her sister in the dark and empty camp. Then she saw her. Pebblekit was still waving her tail from side to side, dawdling into a den that looked smaller than the others, and was decorated with fresh flowers and pretty leaves.

Without hesitation, she ran into the same den, curious as to why this particular den looked so different from the other ones.

The smell hit her so hard she almost fell over and vomited. Fernkit coughed. She couldn't tell what it was, but it made her stomach do flip-flops. It smelled strongly and more vivid than anything she had ever experienced.

Queasily, she raised her head up saw Pebblekit talking with an aggravated-looking cat who looked like her mother. Fernkit stumbled over to both of them and slipped beside Pebblekit, earning a surprised yelp from her.

"Mother? What are you doing here?" Fernkit mumbled, her eyesight going slightly blurry. She tried to focus her pale eyes.

There was a pause. "I'm not your mother." The gray cat declared sharply. "You two had better go back to bed. I don't want other cats to see me with two kits in the middle of the night." She flicked her strange, fin-less tail to the left, as if urging them out.

"Come on, let's go. You heard not-mother." Fernkit meowed to her sister, almost pleadingly.

Pebblekit looked unconvinced. She looked up at the cat with wide emerald eyes. "What are you going to do? After all, you're awake too. We won't get in the way." She implored.

The cat let out a huff of vexation, eyeing the two kits with her pretty pale blue eyes. "You can come, granted you don't tell your mother that you came to bother me." She crouched into a big pile of funny looking leaves and started rummaging through them, pulling out a dark green leaf with crooked streaks running from the center to the edges and placed it in front of the two kits.

"I'm looking for daisies. I need the petals for burns. They're white with yellow buds. You'll know it's a daisy when you see one, _hopefully_." She muttered the last part. "This storage leaf will help carry the flowers." She picked up the leaf with her jaw and padded out the den, Pebblekit and Fernkit following closely after.

"I think her name is Echorain," Pebblekit whispered to Fernkit. "She sure looks like mother."


	5. Chapter 3: Growing Older

"Echorain!" A warm voice meowed in surprise. Fernkit turned her head and saw a pretty white she-cat with a stunning dappled pelt. Her clear shamrock eyes, which were a few shades lighter than Pebblekit's emerald green eyes, grazed over the kits with fondness and interest.

Echorain dropped the storage leaf she had in her jaw. Disappointed, Pebblekit's eyes dropped. She had clearly been looking forward to sneaking out of camp. Fernkit gave her a reassuring shoulder bump.

She turned around and started speaking to them. "Hey, are you two the kits getting apprenticed today? No… That can't be right. You're Doveshine's kits, aren't you? Though I thought she had three."

The white she-cat shrugged then smiled. "Anyhow, Thunderbranch's kits are becoming apprentices today. I heard her yelling just a while ago. Echorain, why are you carrying a storage leaf?"

The gray tabby dipped her head politely. "Fallenstar, these are Pebblekit and Fernkit, my nieces. The other one, Bluebellkit, is in the nursery. I was bringing this storage leaf I found around a bush back to camp, and these two just happened to be awake at this time and saw me."

Fernkit stared at Fallenstar in awe and question. She'd imagined the leader of NiagaraClan to be more sophisticated and serious. Instead, although she stood regal and proud, there was something about her that seemed friendly. Pebblekit looked like she was thinking the same.

"Well, you two are certainly going to be ranked high when you become warriors. I was best friends with Doveshine and Echorain as a young Sleekhunter. You look just like your father, Pebblekit." She purred, the soft winds ruffling her pelt's dapples. "I'm going to tell wake Thunderbranch and her kits so they can get apprenticed." She walked in to the nursery, her tail tip twitching at a fly.

A moment later, Thunderbranch padded out with her two kits walking beside her, Stormkit's black pelt almost blending in with his mom's dark gray but similar one, while Riverkit's even lighter fur and orange patches made her stand out. Doveshine and Bluebellkit came out too.

Fallenstar leapt onto the silver boulder in the center of the camp and yowled out, "All cats of NiagaraClan, meet at the Sterling Boulder!"

Cats of all different pelts and sizes started streaming out of all the dens. Some looked young, some looked old. Some looked excited, some looked like they were about to fall on their face out of tiredness.

Fallenstar beckoned at the two kits to come forward as Thunderbranch grabbed both of them and hastily licked their fur.

Riverkit slipped out of her mother's grip and trekked to the bottom of the Sterling Boulder, her brother following a few paces behind. Fernkit thought both their pelt's looked just fine, but clearly Thunderbranch didn't think the same. The queen looked as grumpy as ever.

Fernkit looked up and saw a cat with a soft brown pelt staring at the two kits proudly, her yellow eyes softening with affection.

"I remember when they were first kitted. I wasn't sure they were even going to make it." She murmured to no one in particular. "But I was too afraid to tell Thunderbranch. Something like that would've broken her wretched little heart. I wonder what Snowbranch would say if he was here." Her shoulders muscles tensed.

Fernkit wondered if she should say anything.

A brown tom with a similar pelt padded up to her and pressed their pelts together. "I know Snowbranch is watching from Aurora. He wouldn't miss his own grandkits apprentice ceremony."

Thunderbranch came from the tom's right. Touching noses with him, love reflected in her golden brown eyes as she sat beside her mate and his mother.

Fallenstar looked down at the two kits intensely, green eyes misty and glowing. A sign from Aurora that they approved of the ceremony. "Riverkit, Stormkit. Are you ready to choose your destiny?"

Both of them nodded vigorously. Stormkit held her gaze, while Riverkit gave her best serious face.

Riverkit licked a paw and ran in behind her ears.

"Stormkit. The choice is yours. Nightwatcher, Jewelfinder, or Sleekhunter?"

The young cat blinked nervously as he cast a glance at his mother. "Nightwatcher. Like my mother, Thunderbranch."

Fallenstar smiled in approval. "Excellent. With your dark pelt and fast reflexes, I know you'll make a wonderful Nightwatcher. Aurora honors your spirit and passion, and they will light the path you chose."

The leader fixed her green eyes onto a cat with a flavescent yellow pelt. "Palewind. You have never mentored anyone before, and I think you are ready for your first apprentice. Please use your knowledge to teach Stormpaw."

Palewind looked completely stunned for a moment, then ran up to her new apprentice touched noses with him, looking proud to have a cat to mentor, finally. "Thank you, Fallenstar."

Stormpaw padded up to Fernkit and Pebblekit and broke into a smile. "I can't believe this is really happening!" His green eyes shone like emeralds hidden in dark caves.

Pebblekit giggled and gave him a friendly shove. "Oh, stop bragging. We only have 2 moons left to go!"

"Congratulations." Fernkit meowed shyly, looking down. For the first time, she noticed that her sister and her friend had identical eye colors. She self-consciously slid away to her mother's side. Bluebellkit awkwardly waved her tail in a greeting (Fernkit returned the gesture) while Doveshine licked the top of her head.

Riverkit chose to be a Jewelfinder and received Mintspot as a mentor.

Pebblekit ran up to Riverpaw and touched her nose to her cheek. The tortoiseshell she-cat purred. "Did I make the right choice, becoming a Jewelfinder?"

"You'll find the shiniest rubies." Pebblekit assured her, tail waving back and forth, excited for her friend. "I can't wait for me, Fernkit and Bluebellkit to be apprenticed!"

Stormpaw padded next to Fernkit, tentatively speaking to her. "What do you think you want to be when it's your turn?"

"I don't know." She confessed. "I guess time will tell."

Meanwhile, Thunderbranch had moved to sit with Doveshine, her ears alert as she eavesdropped of the kits' conversation. "Do you think that kit of yours, Fernkit, will even become an apprentice?"

Doveshine's whiskers twitched. "Of course she will. She can see perfectly fine."

Thunderbranch wasn't so sure.


End file.
